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Monia Mazigh is the Laura Secord of our time

By Robert Meynell

Sun., Jan. 28, 2007

We have found inspiration in the courage of Laura Secord, Visionary Cree chief Poundmaker, World War I flying ace Billy Bishop, hockey hero Maurice "the Rocket" Richard and Marathon of Hope runner Terry Fox.

Today, we can add one more to their number: Dr. Monia Mazigh, who fought the governments of three states to rescue her husband Maher Arar from torture and possible execution.

In the course of her struggle, Mazigh became the Laura Secord of our time.

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Just as Secord conveyed a message of an impending enemy invasion that might have brought about the fall of Canada in the War of 1812, so, too, did Mazigh convey the message of an attack on our citizens that might have brought the fall of the principles of justice that define Canada.

Just as Secord was thrust into an extraordinary circumstance that saw her husband wounded in battle and her home occupied by American troops, so, too, did Mazigh see her husband tortured and imprisoned and felt the power of a secret army at work against her.

Just as Secord took great risks and set out on an arduous journey to warn the British of the attack, defying the expectations that she would be too passive to foil the American invasion, so, too, did Mazigh defy expectation and indefatigably pursued justice through mobilizing the press, the public, and, eventually, the government, to rescue her husband, and foil this latest attack on all of our freedoms.

Since his release, the coverage of the case of Arar has, quite rightly, focused on him, and throughout he has shown exemplary strength and dignity. While his courage is to be lauded, we must not forget that his story may never have been known were it not for the efforts of his wife.

Those efforts finally bore fruit last Friday, when Arar received an official apology from the Canadian government through Prime Minister Stephen Harper and $10.5 million in compensation for the time he spent being tortured in a Syrian jail.

Mazigh's relentless fight to rescue her husband saved not only Arar, but was pivotal in rescuing Canada both from disgrace and succumbing to practices that would transform the relationship between the Canadian citizen and the state from one of relative trust to fear.

In the Arar case, Canada as a country had started down a dark path. We must be vigilant to ensure that justice is quickly restored. We owe it to ourselves to punish the offenders, and to celebrate the heroes.

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As long as Canadian citizens refuse to surrender the rule of law in favour of some agenda-laden promise of security, they will be able to restrain these would-be hijackers.

Mazigh understood that, and she understood that the brilliance of the rule of law is that before the law all are considered equal.

Ultimately the state must serve those who act within the law and prosecute those who violate it, even if they hold government offices and wear the state's uniform.

Too few Canadians appreciate just how powerful the rule of law makes them, and so too often allow themselves to be trodden upon.

Those who would abuse the power of the state, as CSIS and the RCMP did, count upon such meekness.

To their chagrin, Mazigh was neither ignorant nor meek.

With a doctorate in financial economics from McGill, Mazigh is a thinker and an expert communicator with an advanced understanding of the government and society.

And, much like Secord, she took her opponents by surprise.

Because of Arar's eventual release and the subsequent investigation, his story is the only officially documented case of the U.S. (and Canadian) practice of "extraordinary rendition."

It is the only case that can be cited authoritatively by American opponents of this program.

In effect, it not only stayed the decline of democracy in Canada, but it provided Americans and others with a means to fight the same battle at home.

Arar was neither the first nor the last to meet this fate, but his story was made unique, a story of redemption, because he had an ace up his sleeve: the tenacious Monia Mazigh.

And we should all be thankful for it.

Let us not wait more than 40 years, as we did with Secord, to acknowledge the great contribution of this Canadian hero.

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